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CHICAGO – Worried about a growing shareholder revolt at Hollinger International in 2003, Conrad Black concocted a plan for Donald Trump to stand up at the newspaper company’s annual meeting to say some glowing words about management, the jury at Black’s fraud trial heard yesterday.

“Dear Donald,” Black wrote Trump in an e-mail. “Could I ask a rather esoteric favor?”

Black, then the chairman and CEO of Hollinger, went on to say that the shareholder meeting was days away and some institutional investors “have been conducting an insurrection” and “have undoubtedly tried to pack the room with complainants.”

“If you were able to put in a cameo appearance and say a supportive word,” Black wrote, “I’m sure it would have an impact on the group and be favorably noted in the press.”

But Trump didn’t hold Hollinger International shares or represent anyone who did – a requirement if he were to speak at the meeting, testified Paul Healy, a key witness for the government on the stand for the third day.

So Black had his staff, including Healy, who was head of investor relations, scramble to get Trump a “proxy” representing 100 shares, the jury heard.

Trump took the mike at the meeting, declared himself a shareholder, and gushed about his respect for Black and his deputy David Radler.

He noted that a joint venture he had with Hollinger to develop the site of the company’s Sun-Times building in downtown Chicago was going well.

As Trump wrapped up his praise, Black jokingly asked the celebrity real estate mogul’s then girlfriend, Melania Knauss, if she had any comments she’d like to share.

Trump’s positive words came as other investors blasted Black for the lavish perks and excessive management bonuses that are now at the heart of the dethroned press baron’s fraud trial. Immediately after the contentious meeting, the Canadian-born media mogul-turned British lord agreed to have a special committee appointed to look into shareholder allegations that he and other top executives were overpaid and got excessive perks.

What the committee uncovered eventually led to Black’s ouster as chairman and CEO. Black’s legal team had been considering calling Trump as a witness to testify about a pricey surprise 60th birthday bash for the newspaper titan’s glamorous wife, conservative columnist Barbara Amiel, at Manhattan’s La Grenouille.

Prosecutors charge that Hollinger shouldn’t have picked up two-thirds of the roughly $63,000 tab because the fete was personal. It’s believed Trump would testify that the event felt like business to him because of the real-estate venture he signed with Hollinger.

Black’s lawyers may be reluctant to call on Trump now, however, because of the likely questions about his orchestrated appearance at the shareholder meeting.

Black’s lawyer, Edward Genson, spent most of the day trying to undercut the testimony of Healy, Hollinger’s longtime head of investor relations.

Genson, best known for defending R&B crooner R. Kelly on kiddie-porn charges, accused Healy of coming up with a story to please Richard Breeden, who conducted the internal investigation that led to Black’s ouster in 2004.

Healy, who was hired by Breeden two years later, rejected the notion. “I supported Conrad until I found out what he had done,” he testified. janet.whitman@nypost.com